Chess history trivia

[MJMcCready]

Kinda both spot on 1883 London and they replaced hourglasses,

[MJMcCready]

Which British player once had his chess playing ability characterised as 'his hobby is lion killing' by a well known author and columnist?

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Which British player once had his chess playing ability characterised as 'his hobby is lion killing' by a well known author and columnist?

Hugh Alexander from The Delights of Chess by Heinrich Fraenkel. Probably in relation to this game:
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1156490

[MJMcCready]

Super fast and spot on as always!

[MJMcCready]

Which 'old master' has become noted for the following: if his opponent came late to the board he would take note of the minutes late then subtract them from his own clock!

Clue: he's not English but was right up there at the very top in his day.

[Neil Blackburn]

Sounds like a rewrite of a Schlechter story

[MJMcCready]

Indeed correct yes.

Which well known 20th century academic is noted to have drawn comparisons between chess and the syntax of language?

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Which well known 20th century academic is noted to have drawn comparisons between chess and the syntax of language?

Perhaps Ferdinand de Saussure?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Saussure

[MJMcCready]

Well no, he did sometimes refer to chess yes but unfortunately if I be more direct and give explicit quotations, it makes the answer instantly googleable and defeats the purpose of even posting. Not him but closeish in certain respects. Wrong nationality and more established than him. Within his field he is well-noted for it, much more so than who you have suggested.

[Tim Harding]

Chomsky?

[MJMcCready]

Chomsky?

Not Chomsky no. He's noted as a philosopher rather than a linguist and has been considered to be in the top ten greatest of intellectuals of all time.

[Matt Mackenzie]

"Has been considered" can of course mean either a great deal or very little.

[MJMcCready]

I don't recall who conducted the study but it seemed well thought through or so I thought when it emerged way back when.

[David McAlister]

Wittgenstein.

[NickFaulks]

He's noted as a philosopher rather than a linguist and has been considered to be in the top ten greatest of intellectuals of all time.

By his Mum?